Dive Report - 2 dives off Pt Loma 7/24/10

Date: 7/24/10
Location: Lazy Days Wreck, Pt Loma CA
Time in: 11:29 am
Time under: 51 min
Max depth: 81 ft
Min temp: 54 F
Vis: 15-20 ft on average
Waves: 1-2 ft swells w/ a little bit of surge
Buddy: Mikey, Z (Elizabeth), Julie w/ a NOAA Jim sighting

Location: Broomtail Reef, Pt Loma CA
Time in: 2:09 pm
Time under: 50 min
Max depth: 73 ft
Min temp: 54 F
Vis: 20-25 ft
Waves: 1-2 ft swells w/ surge
Buddy: Mikey


Black Sea Nettle Jellyfish (Chrysaora achlyos)

More photos:
http://underpressurephoto.com/Dive-Reports/20100724-Scuba-Broomtail-Reef/

Highlights: Many black sea nettles (a first for me), another McFarland's chromodorid, good conditions and great company.


Spanish Shawl (Flabellina iodinea)

I joined the Scuba Do for another great pair of dives off Pt Loma yesterday. Conditions topside were cool and overcast (our new summer norm) and it was cold at depth as well. The first dive was on the Lazy Days wreck. Before getting in the water, we spotted two different black sea nettles float by near the surface. I was rigged for wide angle and was looking forward to seeing one underwater. I followed the anchor line straight down to the wreck with Mikey and Julia. Soon after, Z joined us. As I was trying to find a good composition for wide angle on the reef, Z tapped me on the shoulder and motioned to follow her. She led me to a nice size black sea nettle floating in the water column. I spent the next 10 minutes photographing the black sea nettle. After that, I dropped back down to photograph the reef and gorgonians some more until NOAA Jim zoomed by. He motioned for help getting his flashlight unhooked, I helped him and he was quickly on his way again. Soon my time was up and I slowly made my way up the anchor line.


MacFarland's Chromodorid (Chromodoris macfarlandi)

For the second dive, I switched to macro and we lost Z and Julie due to the cold. Mikey and I dropped down and headed east towards the pinnacles at Broomtail Reef. We spotted two more black sea nettles and I was able to shoot a hitchhiking crab on one of them. I waved Mikey off as I spent the rest of the dive one the closest reef structure. There I found dozens and dozens of hermissendas, many spanish shawls, a McFarland's chromodorid, a porters chromodorid, a couple of catalina triopha, a yellow spotted cadlina, a tritonia festiva, a large yellow edged cadlina, San Diego dorids, and white spotted porostomes. I also found a blue-ring topsnail to finish off the dive. Mikey let me know when he was low on air and I reluctantly followed him up, knowing that the rest of the group was waiting topside. The vis opened up a bit on the way up and it was actually somewhat blue in the 30-50 ft range in the kelp. A beautiful way to end a day of diving. On the surface, the sun was breaking out through the clouds and the waves were getting a bit choppy. It was time to head home.


Red Gorgonian (Lophogorgia chilensis) and kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera)

Scott

Dive Report - Shaws Cove, Laguna Beach 7/17/10

Catalina Triopha (Triopha catalinae) aka Clown Dorid

Date: 7/17/10
Location: Shaws Cove, Laguna Beach
Time in: 7:51 am
Time under: 84 min
Max depth: 28 ft
Min temp: 57 F
Vis: 10-12 ft
Waves: 1-3 ft
Buddy: Graham

Photos:
http://underpressurephoto.com/Dive-Reports/20100717-ShawsCove/


Christmas tree worm

Highlights: An abundance of life in shallow water. Saw a (single) hopkins rose, one clown dorid, one zebra goby (no pics), a couple of rockpool blennies, a moray eel deep in a crack and lots of garibaldi eggs.


Urticina mcpeaki anemone

It was beautiful above water, but cold below! Graham and I dressed for summer - thin gloves and Graham with no hood. Even though we stayed shallow, my hands and Graham's feet ended up numb. We still had a fun time exploring the outer reef, while large groups of students stayed in the shallow sand. There was a bit of surge that made taking macro photos all the more exciting. Graham stayed lower on the reef while I ventured up higher where there was more life. We stayed down as long as we could, but in the end, the cold got to us and we had to return to the warm sun.

Shaws Cove, Laguna Beach:

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Scott

Dive Report - Woods Cove, Laguna Beach 7/11/10

California Moray Eel (Gymnothorax mordax)

Date: 7/11/10
Location: Woods Cove, Laguna Beach CA
Time in: 7:40 am
Time under: 83 min
Max depth: 26 ft
Min temp: 65 F :)
Vis: 10-15 ft, lots of surge and particulate
Waves: 1-2 w/ occasional 3+ set
Buddy: Graham and Brad

Photos:
http://underpressurephoto.com/Dive-Reports/20100711-Scuba-Woods-Cove/

Highlights: A California moray eel. This was my first diving wet since Bali and it was a lot of fun cruising the reefs in Laguna Beach.

I joined my OC scuba buddies for a dive at our old stomping grounds - Woods Cove in Laguna Beach. Weather was overcast and conditions were mixed. There were occasional 3-4 footers, but they were long periods of calm in between. Underwater it was surgey, but clear considering. You could see the surface from 20 feet under water, though horizontal vis was about 10-15 ft. I was hoping to photograph a moray and Graham delivered near the end of the dive. I also found a red gorgonian that was covered in skeleton shrimp. Click to see the larger version:


Skeleton Shrimp (Caprella sp.) party on Red gorgonian (Lophogorgia chilensis)

I was plagued with camera issues throughout the dive and is something I need to resolve before diving again. With the Ikelite TTL housing and strobes, if the primary strobe isn't working the camera won't fire. However, even after turning off both strobes, for periods of time the camera wouldn't fire. I tried turning on each strobe individually and no luck. Just about when I would give up, suddenly they were working again. This happened about 3 times during the dive.

Woods Cove, Laguna Beach:

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Scott

Dive Report - Early dive at La Jolla Shores 6/27/10

Blue-Ring Topsnail (Calliostoma annulatum)

Date: 6/27/10
Location: LJS, Main Wall
Time in: 7:17 am
Time under: 68 minutes
Max depth: 72 ft
Min temp: 53 F (cold!)
Vis: 10-15 ft, thermocline w/ better vis below 35 ft
Waves: 2-4 ft, easily timed
Buddy: Marla


Octopus on Sand Dollars (Dendraster excentricus)

More photos:
http://underpressurephoto.com/Dive-Reports/20100627-Scuba-LJS


Highlights: Lots of interesting small creatures - a couple triophia maculata, a trio of hermissendas, a small blue-ring topsnail, a tiny juvenile lobster that I thought was a copepod and a juvenile cabezon.

Marla and I met up at LJS early this morning and took a chance on the swell. Fortunately, it sounds like it was much smaller today than yesterday - 2-3 ft w/ an occaisional bigger set. We made it out through the surf without any problems and only had to duck under a few waves. We started out a bit north and never really made it to Vallecitos, but that was just as well. On the way down the hill, there was a thermocline at about 35 ft and the visibility opened up a bit, probably helped by the incoming tide. We both noticed that there wasn't much surge at depth, but it sure got cold. We were both on the look-out for fried egg jellyfish, but unfortunately we didn't see any. We took our time slowly meandering south along the slope, with Marla helping me find interesting things to photograph. I found a tiny lobster on a blade of kelp that looked like a copepod with long antenae and Marla spotted a juvenile cabezon hiding amongst the detritus. I signaled to head back up the slope at about 1500 psi and was happy that the temperature quickly picked up to the high 60's F in the shallows.

My pictures from LJS never turn out quite as nice as the ones from Pt Loma. The conditions are a lot more challenging and the creatures always seem to be flat on the sandy bottom (which I always manage to kick up). But practicing at LJS sure makes all the other spots that much easier to shoot at. :)

Scott

Dive Report - 2 dives off Pt Loma 6/19/10

A Giant Spined Star (Pisaster giganteus) on a kelp holdfast.

Date: 6/19/10
Location: Pt Loma Kelp Beds, Lazy Days wreck
Time in: 10:44 am
Time under: 44 min
Max depth: 81 ft
Min temp: 54 F (Uwatec)
Vis: 15-20 ft
Waves: 4-5 ft swells, a bit of surge even at depth
Buddies: Mikey, Ruth Harris
Setup for Wide Angle


Hermissenda crassicornis

Location: Pt Loma Kelp Beds, Broomtail Reef
Time in: 1:16 pm
Time under: 55 min
Max depth: 67 ft
Min temp: 53 (Uwatec)
Vis: 20-30 ft
Waves: 4-5 ft swells and surge
Buddy: Mikey
Setup for Macro


The Lazy Days wreck off Pt Loma at 80 ft.

Highlights: 2 great dives off Pt Loma, which always provides great subjects. I got my first photo of a MacFarland's chromodorid, even if it's not the greatest photo. At the time, I thought it was a Porter's chromodorid, as it looked more blue than purple. In addition to all of the nudibranchs seen on the second dive, I also saw one of the most beautiful red anemones I've ever seen, but unfortunately, I wasn't able to capture a photo that I thought did it justice.


Macrocystis Kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) and Proliferating Anemone (Epiactis prolifera)

I also finally got to meet and dive with Ruth, after a previous failed attempt. She was kind enough to lend me her second tank after problems with mine. For the rest, I'll defer to Mikey's writeup on his blog with about the excitement with the sea urchin diver that we assisted:
http://raptureofthedeep.org/index.php/2010/06/19/reef-survey-on-the-lazy-days-wreck/


Mating White spotted porostomes (Doriopsilla albopunctata) surrounded by a Giant Spined Star (Pisaster giganteus).

The rest of the photos:
http://underpressurephoto.com/Dive-Reports/20100619-Scuba-Pt-Loma/

Scott

Dive report - 6/5/10 La Jolla Shores

Date: 6/5/10
Location: La Jolla Shores
Time in: 8:05 am
Time under: 64 min
Max depth: 67 ft
Min temp: 53 F (Uwatec)
Vis: 10 ft
Waves: 2-3 ft w/ occasional 4-5 footer
Buddy: Rob Johnson

More photos:
http://underpressurephoto.com/Dive-Reports/20100605-Scuba-LJS/

Highlights: Getting through the waves without getting pummeled. Going diving!

Waves were 2-3 ft with an occasional 4-5 ft. Visible thermocline at 60 ft, with pea soup above and 10 ft vis below. A bit of surge at 60 ft and a south current, yet somehow we ended up exiting north of where we entered. Definite potholes on the way in.

Scott

Dive Report - 5/30/10 La Jolla Shores

Date: 5/30/10
Location: La Jolla Shores, CA
Time in: 6:53 AM
Time under: 70 minutes
Max depth: 62 ft
Min temp: 53 F, cold
Vis: 5-10 ft, mostly 5 w/ pea soup.
Waves: 1-3 ft w/ occasional 4 footer
Buddy: Mike Hallack

Highlights: Happy to be diving at all with this el nino. Saw stearns aoelids, lots of lion nudibranchs, a school of juvenile rockfish.

Weather topside is beautiful today and the waves weren't too bad. On our way out, I had to dive under one 4+ ft wave that was breaking right on us, but came out unscathed. It was pea soup green underwater, with vis less than 5 ft at the surface. At depth it got up to 10 ft in some spots. Mike and I had to use our lights to keep track of each other.



We saw the usual suspects, with lion nudibranchs crowding the remaining shreds of kelp. At Vallecitos Point, there was a knot of kelp all bunched together about 10 feet off the bottom. There was a group of lion nudibranchs and a school of juvenile rockfish all huddled inside. We surfaced in 5 feet of water with an uneventful exit.



More photos:
http://underpressurephoto.com/Dive-Reports/20100530-Scuba-LJS/

La Jolla Shores:

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Scott